Week 9 Thing #21

I am a fan of the podcast. On a regular basis I download shows from NPR then I listen to them on my iPod while I'm out walking my dog. People must think I'm a little off as I seem to spend much of my walk laughing out loud. I have also found travel podcasts to be helpful, although people have caught on and now vendors are starting to post their pay-for podcasts through iTunes. There are also a number of great Photoshop Tutorials and I also enjoy Grammar Girl's podcasts.

Week 9 Thing #20

We are one of the lucky districts in the state that does not block YouTube. It has such amazing potential, and is a real godsend when I need a quick tutorial on new technologies. As we get more comfortable with technology I have no doubt that we will begin posting our own educational resources on YouTube. One example may be a book talk link with students discussing a book they have read or a movie review to post for their peers.

I have already posted my favorite YouTube video Did you Know III in a previous post, so I'm going to post a less educational video in this one. Enjoy - this kid is amazing!

Week 8 Thing #19

The Library Thing was fun. I have a similar feature in my Facebook and MySpace accounts, but this one was even easier to use. Check on my Random Library below my avatar on the left.

Week 8 Thing #18

Online productivity tools are showing up everywhere. I follow a lot of people in the EdTech field on Twitter and many of them are presenting about and using Google Docs etc for their classrooms. It eliminates usability issues and teachers no longer need to worry about what version of Microsoft Word or Works their students are using. Zoho is also an amazing tool. The ability to create mathematical equations and use them in other programs such as Moodle or Quia will make creating electronic assignments and activities significantly easier for math teachers.

The one problem I had with Zoho spreadsheet was every time I tabbed to the next cell it tried to connect with the server to save which slowed the whole process down. I tried it again on another computer at a different location and no longer ran in the continuous "scipt" error. It was probably that computer, but it was very frustrating never the less.

Week 7 Things # 16 & 17

The thing I love most about 2.0 tools is that anyone can now be a content creator for information on the web. We are no longer limited by programming skills and expensive software. I see the potential of wikis in many different environments. Students can maintain class encyclopedias for science terminology or maybe students could contribute and post different types of poetry for a language arts class.

I know I'm a MOODLE pusher, but the thing that I love about Moodle is that your classroom is limited to your students. Once they post to a wiki their posting is linked to their account along with any edit or changes made to that wiki. That way you can track their contributions as well as monitor the appropriate uses of posting.

Posting in the "Sandbox" was fun. I posted information gleaned from Wikipedia. It's amazing what information is out there. Has anyone ever posted on Wikipedia?

Week 6 Thing #15

I like the idea of discussing the evolution of the library. We are currently having this discussion in our district as there's been a movement to eliminate librarians at our secondary schools. My response to this now and then has been utter disbelief. Our libraries are already evolving. Our librarians are the guardians of resources both text based and electronic. One of our major concerns for the future is teaching our students how to manage the vast amount of information out there and our librarians are the key to this process. As a TOSA I have spent the last year training teachers on the use of technology and in one of the videos we show to everyone is Howie DiBlasi's YouTube video Did You Know III? (If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it!) DiBlasi says More than 1442 new books are published....Daily and It's estimated that a weeks worth of New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century. The libraries are crucial to preparing our students for the future, and our librarians are the front line in that preparation.

Vacation

I apologize for my recent absence in cyberworld. I've been visiting my grandfather in South Dakota where there is an actual dead zone for technology. No Internet and even my phone found zero service. After the first couple of days of slightly freaking out...I found I was able to function and it was actually kind of nice to stop compulsively checking my e-mail and voice mail. Of course, I wasn't at the airport for 5 minutes before I picked up my old habits, but it was nice to know I could survive without my technology.

Reminder: Web 2.0 gathering at the District Office on July 23rd from 2:00 - 5:00. You can get staff development hours for this or Tier 2 pay!