1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I guess it would be creating the avatar.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
It may help me with personal research.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I now know what tools I'm not interested in using.
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Some of the videos I couldn't view - and the videos were really helpful, so I would make sure the videos work and that there are more videos explaining really how to do things.
5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Yes, if it wasn't so much work.
6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
technology
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Thing #22
Go to Nings or something else and look at the different features and options then write a blog post about what you think a Ning would be good for and how you might use it.
I went to Teacherlingo because it pertained to my current employment and viewed the lessons, searching for "Biology" and there were no results under that search term. I then searched with the same term under latest blogs but it was a set of random blogs. I saw that one could post lessons and browse lessons, the latest blogs, teacher blogs sorted according to academic level, read messages on certain message boards sorted by name (you must become a member to post a message on a message board) and a user could give feedback on teacherlingo.
I think a Ning would be a good place for students and teachers to come together for "salon" study, about, for instance, a book. I much prefer online learning and this could be a way that students could give feedback online and not be shy about it. Salon discussions could be used for everything from bible study to classroom book study, or just pick a book and invite anyone to read and message board about it.
If I had a classroom with a lot of students I could use this for book discussions.
I went to Teacherlingo because it pertained to my current employment and viewed the lessons, searching for "Biology" and there were no results under that search term. I then searched with the same term under latest blogs but it was a set of random blogs. I saw that one could post lessons and browse lessons, the latest blogs, teacher blogs sorted according to academic level, read messages on certain message boards sorted by name (you must become a member to post a message on a message board) and a user could give feedback on teacherlingo.
I think a Ning would be a good place for students and teachers to come together for "salon" study, about, for instance, a book. I much prefer online learning and this could be a way that students could give feedback online and not be shy about it. Salon discussions could be used for everything from bible study to classroom book study, or just pick a book and invite anyone to read and message board about it.
If I had a classroom with a lot of students I could use this for book discussions.
Thing #21
Use either Photostory or Audacity to create a podcast (you will need to link the podcast) or vidcast and post it in your blog along with your thoughts about using this kind of technology.
I do not at all feel comfortable posting my voice on the internet, even for something such as this, so I chose to record a music stream instead. I am hopeful this will be acceptable.
My thoughts about using this type of technology? I think it's fine if someone wants to broadcast something all over the internet, or use it as a way to get information to their students, but I personally don't feel comfortable putting my voice on the internet.
Here is the link to the podcast I put on Switchpod. I hope it works:
http://www.switchpod.com/users/today100/feed.xml
The Best is Yet to Come - Michael Buble
The Best is yet to come sung by Michael Buble off his cd "Call me irresponsible".
I wasn't sure if I was going to be penalized for doing the above, so I went ahead and created a photo story with the audio file in the background to show that I did indeed do as much as possible with the assignment without using my own voice.
I have tried and tried to embed a link to my photo story here but it won't go through. Sorry about that, guys!
I do not at all feel comfortable posting my voice on the internet, even for something such as this, so I chose to record a music stream instead. I am hopeful this will be acceptable.
My thoughts about using this type of technology? I think it's fine if someone wants to broadcast something all over the internet, or use it as a way to get information to their students, but I personally don't feel comfortable putting my voice on the internet.
Here is the link to the podcast I put on Switchpod. I hope it works:
http://www.switchpod.com/users/today100/feed.xml
The Best is Yet to Come - Michael Buble
The Best is yet to come sung by Michael Buble off his cd "Call me irresponsible".
I wasn't sure if I was going to be penalized for doing the above, so I went ahead and created a photo story with the audio file in the background to show that I did indeed do as much as possible with the assignment without using my own voice.
I have tried and tried to embed a link to my photo story here but it won't go through. Sorry about that, guys!
Thing #20
1. Go to YouTube, find a video using the search box. Search for something like Libraries, librarians, learning, teaching, etc.
I searched for teaching and it brought up some very broad topics with "teaching " in the title.
2. Go to TeacherTube, locate a video for a subject that might be useful for students/teachers in your sphere of influence.
I searched for biology high school and it turned up 0 results. I then had to search biology and it came up with 112 results but none of them were rated by age. This was not helpful.
3. Write a post for Thing #20 about your video finds and the value of having access to so many video resources. Embed at least one of the videos you selected into your post.
The value of having access so many video resources? The pool of videos to use is larger.
However, the search results were not at all helpful if a teacher wants to search for a particular topic and then use that video to teach their students.
However, I did find other videos where teachers either used it as a tool for communication with their students or otherwise.
Here's a link to a teacher who wanted to introduce a new textbook to her students prior to the beginning of school:
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=2638a0497bf
or Biology Book
Here's another link to a video that gives an introduction to Biology for a certain teacher's class:
Biology Welcome Video or
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=b689a1eea23db5b29f
Here are the embedded videos:
Here's the Biology Welcome video:
Here's the Biology Book video:
I searched for teaching and it brought up some very broad topics with "teaching " in the title.
2. Go to TeacherTube, locate a video for a subject that might be useful for students/teachers in your sphere of influence.
I searched for biology high school and it turned up 0 results. I then had to search biology and it came up with 112 results but none of them were rated by age. This was not helpful.
3. Write a post for Thing #20 about your video finds and the value of having access to so many video resources. Embed at least one of the videos you selected into your post.
The value of having access so many video resources? The pool of videos to use is larger.
However, the search results were not at all helpful if a teacher wants to search for a particular topic and then use that video to teach their students.
However, I did find other videos where teachers either used it as a tool for communication with their students or otherwise.
Here's a link to a teacher who wanted to introduce a new textbook to her students prior to the beginning of school:
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=2638a0497bf
or Biology Book
Here's another link to a video that gives an introduction to Biology for a certain teacher's class:
Biology Welcome Video or
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=b689a1eea23db5b29f
Here are the embedded videos:
Here's the Biology Welcome video:
Here's the Biology Book video:
Thing #19
I explored the site from the Web 2.0 awards list. I found it difficult to navigate and I didn't really know what to do with it. I would have much preferred to search the worst of web 2.0 awards, and did so when this got dull. I really needed a pick me up.
What is special about the tool?
That a company chose to provide a service to optimize search engines??? I'm not sure. It "ranks" websites so that the viewer can see the "best" available according to award categories.
What are its useful parts, especially with regards to Libraries and school?
The tags "Education" and "Books" are useful categories for both teachers and students. It gives the user feedback before the user is to visit the website, and that can be helpful if the user wants to research the legitimacy of the website and the information on that site.
How might you use this tool in your own setting?
It would be a good place to let your students know about so they could do more informed searches. It would be a good place to use in order for research so you would know what you were "in for" when you went to a website. Also, just venturing to the website brought me to another website about languages, something that I haven't had time to research but now I know where to go and that that website is a tool for total language immersion.
What is special about the tool?
That a company chose to provide a service to optimize search engines??? I'm not sure. It "ranks" websites so that the viewer can see the "best" available according to award categories.
What are its useful parts, especially with regards to Libraries and school?
The tags "Education" and "Books" are useful categories for both teachers and students. It gives the user feedback before the user is to visit the website, and that can be helpful if the user wants to research the legitimacy of the website and the information on that site.
How might you use this tool in your own setting?
It would be a good place to let your students know about so they could do more informed searches. It would be a good place to use in order for research so you would know what you were "in for" when you went to a website. Also, just venturing to the website brought me to another website about languages, something that I haven't had time to research but now I know where to go and that that website is a tool for total language immersion.
Thing #18
Explore one or both of the free options (Google Docs) and post a blog with your opinion of the advantages and/or disadvantages of using a free online tool instead of Microsoft Office.
The advantages of using a tool such as Google docs is that it is a centrally located place to work on all different types of documents, as well as working with photos or using your mail or calendars. It posts your work so you get an "at a glance" account of when you worked on a document. You can easily share your work with others as well.
The disadvantages of using Google docs is that you have to deal with all of those pop up windows. Also, people are more unfamiliar with this so the learning curve might prevent them from utilizing this.
The advantages of using a tool such as Google docs is that it is a centrally located place to work on all different types of documents, as well as working with photos or using your mail or calendars. It posts your work so you get an "at a glance" account of when you worked on a document. You can easily share your work with others as well.
The disadvantages of using Google docs is that you have to deal with all of those pop up windows. Also, people are more unfamiliar with this so the learning curve might prevent them from utilizing this.
Thing #17
Create your own customize search and write about it in your blog and post a link to it.
http://rollyo.com/search.html?q=Halloween+costumes+female+women&sid=435377.
If you search Halloween costumes female women under "today100" you will get my search sites.
I like this tool because I do a lot of searches for a multitude of things and this will condense my searches. It was really easy to do as well.
http://rollyo.com/search.html?q=Halloween+costumes+female+women&sid=435377.
If you search Halloween costumes female women under "today100" you will get my search sites.
I like this tool because I do a lot of searches for a multitude of things and this will condense my searches. It was really easy to do as well.
Thing #16
I completed Discovery Exercise ! and added a link with my comment.
How might you use wikis?
I might use wikis to coordinate schedules and other procedural information for those on my staff. I think wikis could be used departmentally as well to help get information out there more easily than face to face meetings, and it would also save time. In addition, many times people do not want to speak up in meetings for fear of retribution by their supervisor. In a wiki, as long as everyone follows certain etiquette guidelines, perhaps supervisors would be more willing to read and take into account different points of view. This might also work for principals who really might care what their employees think but can't say in a staff meeting with the entire school present.
How might you use wikis?
I might use wikis to coordinate schedules and other procedural information for those on my staff. I think wikis could be used departmentally as well to help get information out there more easily than face to face meetings, and it would also save time. In addition, many times people do not want to speak up in meetings for fear of retribution by their supervisor. In a wiki, as long as everyone follows certain etiquette guidelines, perhaps supervisors would be more willing to read and take into account different points of view. This might also work for principals who really might care what their employees think but can't say in a staff meeting with the entire school present.
Thing #15
I read perspectives "Away from icebergs" and "To a temporary place in time" in order to respond to the below-mentioned questions.
Library 2.0. It's many things to many people.
What does it mean to you?
"Library 2.0 is a loosely defined model for a modernized form of library service that reflects a transition within the library world in the way that services are delivered to users. The focus is on user-centered change and participation in the creation of content and community" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_2.0).
Library 2.0 means more information at my fingertips, but more frustration at the realization that the school and library environment is not keeping up with the needs of the consumer. Library 2.0 means the ability to participate in the "salon" concept of learning and discussion developed in France in the 19th century, but the inability of public schools to adapt to useful new technologies. Library 2.0 means knowing that there are wonderful online teaching tools I can share with my students, but that I can't share them with them because the time it takes to stream a video takes up the entire teaching hour. Library 2.0 means that the majority of my exciting exploration for work must take place at home and not work because work has not given me sufficient tools or time to explore.
What does it mean to school libraries?
It means that the public school system, the classroom, and school libraries need to be totally revamped, as well as the way the student communicates with the teacher, and vice versa. It means that librarians need to find ways to give information quickly and easily to both teachers and students. It means less books on the shelf but an increased ability to get books and information to patrons more quickly (not waiting a week for a book/dvd/cd).
Library 2.0. It's many things to many people.
What does it mean to you?
"Library 2.0 is a loosely defined model for a modernized form of library service that reflects a transition within the library world in the way that services are delivered to users. The focus is on user-centered change and participation in the creation of content and community" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_2.0).
Library 2.0 means more information at my fingertips, but more frustration at the realization that the school and library environment is not keeping up with the needs of the consumer. Library 2.0 means the ability to participate in the "salon" concept of learning and discussion developed in France in the 19th century, but the inability of public schools to adapt to useful new technologies. Library 2.0 means knowing that there are wonderful online teaching tools I can share with my students, but that I can't share them with them because the time it takes to stream a video takes up the entire teaching hour. Library 2.0 means that the majority of my exciting exploration for work must take place at home and not work because work has not given me sufficient tools or time to explore.
What does it mean to school libraries?
It means that the public school system, the classroom, and school libraries need to be totally revamped, as well as the way the student communicates with the teacher, and vice versa. It means that librarians need to find ways to give information quickly and easily to both teachers and students. It means less books on the shelf but an increased ability to get books and information to patrons more quickly (not waiting a week for a book/dvd/cd).
Thing #14
1. Are the results different? Yes. When I searched in just blogs posts under search.technorati.com, the first entry was "living in the octagon". When I searched in tags, the first listing is "Pageflakes as a personal learning network Portal: Learning and Research 2.0". When I searched blogs, the first listing was "HeyJude".
2. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results? It was surprising that 3 different types of searches for the same set of words came up with 3 different results.
3. How could Technorati and its features assist you? Technorati could assist me by enabling me to reduce the amount of time I use for research, thus freeing up time for other endeavors.
Add your thoughts about the value of tagging information.
I believe tagging information is useful in the sense that it helps us to better organize our research information. In addition, it aids in reducing the amount of time we waste when conducting research.
2. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results? It was surprising that 3 different types of searches for the same set of words came up with 3 different results.
3. How could Technorati and its features assist you? Technorati could assist me by enabling me to reduce the amount of time I use for research, thus freeing up time for other endeavors.
Add your thoughts about the value of tagging information.
I believe tagging information is useful in the sense that it helps us to better organize our research information. In addition, it aids in reducing the amount of time we waste when conducting research.
Thing #13
Experience and thoughts about the bookmarking tools:
I perused Delicious, Magnolia, and Furl, and learned about the idea of centralized, shared bookmarking. The Delicious tutorial did not work, therefore I was unable to watch it and learn what it had to say, but all the other tutorials worked. I set up an account with Delicious and imported all of my existing bookmarks, and attempted to organize them as well. My thoughts are that as opposed to a bookmark page on a local computer that just adds the bookmarks as made, this tool alphabetizes them and keeps them much more organized and so easier to search.
Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance?
I can see the potential of this tool for research assistance, and it is also an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere.
How can libraries or classroom teachers take advantage of social bookmarking sites?
They can take advantage of these sites by being able to do their lesson-planning research both at school and at home and being able to combine those in order to have a more complete body of research. In addition, the sharing aspect of these bookmark sites is beneficial in that teachers and librarians can share their bookmarked spots with other professionals in order to gain even more knowledge and access to already researched and reviewed material.
I perused Delicious, Magnolia, and Furl, and learned about the idea of centralized, shared bookmarking. The Delicious tutorial did not work, therefore I was unable to watch it and learn what it had to say, but all the other tutorials worked. I set up an account with Delicious and imported all of my existing bookmarks, and attempted to organize them as well. My thoughts are that as opposed to a bookmark page on a local computer that just adds the bookmarks as made, this tool alphabetizes them and keeps them much more organized and so easier to search.
Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance?
I can see the potential of this tool for research assistance, and it is also an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere.
How can libraries or classroom teachers take advantage of social bookmarking sites?
They can take advantage of these sites by being able to do their lesson-planning research both at school and at home and being able to combine those in order to have a more complete body of research. In addition, the sharing aspect of these bookmark sites is beneficial in that teachers and librarians can share their bookmarked spots with other professionals in order to gain even more knowledge and access to already researched and reviewed material.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Thing 12
1. Two points I think are important are read before you write and be polite. So many times after I've read a news article and scroll down to the comments, the comments either have nothing to do with the article, or the commenter has not read the article thoroughly enough to say something intelligent. I resent this and see it as a waste of cyberspace. Also, politeness has all but been forgotten in cyberspace, not to mention the workplace. Please, let's try to remember our etiquette!
2. Choose at least five different Learn2Play blogs and make at least one comment to each.
on http://mrshilersbioblog.blogspot.com/ whoknows said...
3. Find two blogs about a subject of personal interest (Google Blog Search!) or from the blogroll of any blogger you read. Comment on these two blogs that are not a part of the Learn2Play community. In your post about this Thing, explain what drew your attention to these blogs.
This blog drew my attention because it was a comment on genetic links to persons with autism, and genetics and disease is of interest to me.
2. Choose at least five different Learn2Play blogs and make at least one comment to each.
on http://mrshilersbioblog.blogspot.com/ whoknows said...
I think using trading cards to learn TAKS concepts would be a really fun way for students to interact!
on http://bjsbubbleblog.blogspot.com/ whoknows said...This is a really eye-catching way to set up a writing assignment!
on http://sbisdblogspot.blogspot.com/whoknows said...I agree. This is a very helpful video but we all can't access it at school. :(
on http://technicolordaydreamer.blogspot.com/ whoknows said...This is very helpful for me as well. It is a time-saver, isn't it?
on http://mhammack.blogspot.com/whoknows said...It was a bit confusing for me to begin at first as well, but I am hoping it will get easier! :)
3. Find two blogs about a subject of personal interest (Google Blog Search!) or from the blogroll of any blogger you read. Comment on these two blogs that are not a part of the Learn2Play community. In your post about this Thing, explain what drew your attention to these blogs.
This blog drew my attention because it was a comment on genetic links to persons with autism, and genetics and disease is of interest to me.
Although autism is neither wholly caused by genetic factors, I believe it would be beneficial to continue to pursue research into being able to find genetic markers for this.
This next blog really got my attention, especially as this 13 yr old boy's PTA thought this video about real-life bullying was "too graphic" to be shown. Please view it if you all are interested.Fighting Back Against Bullying
June 19th, 2008 by Melissa Anelli
There’s a video going around today, and it’s one I think Harry would be proud of: a 13-year-old from Udall Road Middle School in West Islip, NY, is making an online stand against bullying. He made this video to show at his PTA meeting and was told it was too graphic. So he put it online.
We’re not talking about a shove in the hallway or some light freshman hazing: reports say this kid has been hit by a rock from school bullies. This is an often-overlooked ill, and I for one think this video shows that this child is more courageous than all those who pick on him put together. If his courage could manifest in muscles, they would be too frightened to go near him. Dumbledore’s Army supports you, Patrick Kohlmann.
Thing 11
LibraryThing would be useful in my situation if a group of us who study and work with this group of students add our books to LibraryThing. We could check reviews and borrow professional books from one another.
I checked out the groups and found some sites that interested me (Harry Potter, Sci Fi).
I checked out the groups and found some sites that interested me (Harry Potter, Sci Fi).
Thing 10
I like the comic strip generator at http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/ as it was the easiest one I tried.
Classroom teachers could use these to teach certain social interactions or privately address a behavioral issue a student is having. And, as many students are interested in anime, it might be helpful to use this genre to address the above issues.
Thing 9
- Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?
- Which Search tool was the easiest for you?
- Which was more confusing?
- What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
- What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?
Thing 8
- What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
- I like that I get to choose up front what information comes to me
- I like that this information does not go to my email account, but instead to an account I can choose to ignore or change
- I like that this can be used for daily surfing information
- How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?
- I will use this in my personal life in order to weed out any unwanted news sites and go directly to those sites in which I am interested
- In addition, this is a helpful tool to get new movie information for the summer :)
- On a professional level, this could be used to do a daily search about latest topics in the AU field
- How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
- Libraries could use RSS to share book reviews for teachers and the student body
thing 7
I set up a google alert and used it. I also utilized the Google scholar tool. Google scholar is a more specialized search engine and got me the information I needed to conduct my research; therefore, utilizing this search engine in order to help with educational research is a helpful outcome. In addition, up to date alerts about the topic I chose will keep me apprised of any new developments in this field.
thing 6
I prefer the Mappr mashup because it can be used to give an instant visual to an interactive map to help students learn World Geography. This could be helpful link on the library resources page for them to get to any World Geography teacher's created map.
thing 5
This is an image of a monument to Edward the Martyr, or Eadweard II of England from 975-978, when he was murdered. He was sainted due to the many miracles attributed to him after death.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
thing 3
The process of setting up my blog was time-consuming and confusing. I have not looked at anyone else's blog, made a comment, or asked a question.
Thing 2
The habit among the 7 & 1/2 that is easiest for me is
Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
Habit 7 ½: Play
Other thoughts - often I have difficulty with determining specific small objectives within the broader goal.
out there
Never done this before, as I never thought the thoughts I had would mean anything to anyone else.
So, I suppose I'll just write about other things instead so as not to bore anyone
So, I suppose I'll just write about other things instead so as not to bore anyone
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June 21st, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I commend this boy for making public what many schools do not consider to be important.
As a teacher and an aunt, I have seen much apathy on the part of schools to deal with this. Not enough monitoring of activities in the cafeteria and the playground contribute to instances of bullying.
Also, it has been my observation that at times this behavior is considered to be “typical” of children and teens and thus nothing is done, especially with the more subtle bullying in which females engage.
Once a bully always a bully - those children that bullied me when I was young are the same bosses and co-workers who exist by using intimidation and fear in the workplace.