Summary

I am happy to have had this opportunity to complete an awesome online Web 2.0 course! Even though I may work in the technology department I do not know or even pretend to know all this course provided. I was encouraged to push buttons, try new things and deal with challenges and obstacles that computers provide :) Overall, I think that if every teacher took this course their eyes would be open to really understanding the idea behind teachnology integration and the uses for all areas and subjects. I hope that some time soon in the near future, teachers have the tools and skills to provide the necessary training for our students and equip them for the real world of work. Thank you both for a well designed course and one that I will be utilizing daily, with 300 -500 online tools I am looking forward to the next 23 Things:)

Thing #23 WooHoo!!!

Find an example or attribution that shows the Learning 2.0-23Things blog was based on someone else's work and modified from its original.

Here you go...Learning 2.0 is a discovery learning program created by Helene Blowers and adapted by the California School Library Association and others. Content and style for Learning 2.0 - 23 Things has been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

Now that you know about Creative Commons licensing, how will you use it in the future as a teacher or school librarian? It is important that all teachers and students understand copyright permissions and usage of digitial text and graphics. With the ease of cut and paste plagerism is an all too often means of writing for our students and teachers. I like the fact that many sites are beginning to realize that by sharing information the possibilities are limitless. We need to educate the differences between c, cc, and pd and make sure works are cited correctly!

Thing #22

I liked the Podcastdirectory.com the most, it gave me a alpha listing that was easy to follow, I clicked on several comedy podcast, after my trauma with the Animoto I needed a laugh, but nothing was really funny! I was taken to http://www.mediafly.com/ and was able to find several really good podcast, however none in the comedy area. I guess I lost my sense of humor today. I listened to several Zig Zigler podcast, one in particular was "Don't give up... humm.

I added these Zig Zigler podcast to my Bloglines and iGoogle page.

Podcastalley.com did not have anything that I was interested in and it didn't seem easy to locate the podcast that I would want to check out, matter of fact, there were some really unnecessary podcast - most of them were people that enjoy hearing themselves talk out loud and assume someone cares to listen :)

Many of the Elementary Technology Facilitators introduced podcasting to the teachers this year and it was an exciting buzz around the campuses and for the students. I am still trying to imagine all of the application pieces that this could provide for the secondary campuses. It wasn't until May that we actually had a server in our district that the podcast could be posted to and support. Sometimes technology moves at a faster pace than the equipment.

I will need to search more in depth for those podcast that I want to subscribe to on a regulary basis, with my varied interest and attention span one or two podcast would probably be a disservice to the podcast world.

Thing #21 Finally

Thing #21

I am not happy with Animoto at all. I had major problems with my photo's uploading, the music uploading and then the video to load - I means hours!!! My computer is running well and has a good signal I just think it has a mind of its own! I have used other digitial formatting programs and none were ever this challenging. You have to have at least 10 photo's before you can move forward, it took forever for the music genre choices to finally appear and then when they did and I selected my music it took another hour to save????

Thing #20

I got distracted and sat and watched 20 different videos to find the one I wanted, there are so many. I wanted an inspirational or motivational video and I found plenty. The one that I chose was created in http://www.endlessmemories.biz/, I liked the way that it played. I created a slideshow/video this summer that I am thinking about posting on YouTube or TeacherTube. I set up accounts in both. I also am thinking of the high school math teachers that have created lesson using their Smart slates/Notebook software that could be shared as a Mathcast for other teachers in the district and around the world. The fact that YouTube is the #4 most visited site is pretty powerful! The video title is "Rules for Being Human".

Thing #19

Visit 23 Thingsters

Thing #19

View my page on 23 Thingsters

Thing #18

MySpace link.

It important that we as educators know how social networking works, our students are in love with it! I chose MySpace because that is what my daughter uses and she said that this way we could talk back and forth. I asked her what is wrong with the phone, her response was, "MySpace is for when you don't really want to talk to someone" ??? OK so what part of that did I not get...it is totally mind boggling that so many people have these pages and have spent countless hours designing and downloading the little bells and whistles. I can see how this could get out of hand and some teens as well as adults would not use it in the way in which it was intended. I see that we as educators need to meet our student's somewhere here in the middle. We need to see the value and the benefits of MySpace and/or Facebook and become creative in its classroom use. Student's already are on their pages any and every chance they can get so why not utilize it in an appropriate way. There are many widgets and tools that could be included to make it work for the classroom. Can you imagine the look on your student's faces when you tell them, "OK, today we are using our mobile lab cart and the computers, log on to your MySpace or Facebook account and go to the blogging area. WOW it could happen :)

Thing #17

del.icio.us is an easy tool to set up and to use. I can see teachers and students using this tool as they research and seek valid, helpful, and appropriate information from the internet. It reduces the search, it refines the search, and the best feature of all it is an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from any computer anywhere!

OPTIONAL: My del.icio.us account is set up and is being used pretty regular, I am in need of several up to date articles on technology uses in the classroom and del.icio.us helps me to find them.

Thing #16

I liked the look of iGoogle (as opposed to PageFlakes or Net Vibe) so I customized my home page to iGoogle and even had fun adding widgets to my pages!! I chose iGoogle calendar, it is too easy not to use. I like the format, layout, and the editing tools, I didn't care for the look of 30 Boxes or Scrybe. I use a online calendar for home and work and can sync them both, I also use several online calendars at work within our department that are all synced together. It makes it nice to look at everyone's calendar when trying to schedule a meeting or to schedule training. When I first started in our department I was using the Credit Union calendar that we get every year (and that I dearly love!) but then I had to change and I am glad that I did, I like the pop up reminders for appointments!

The to-do lists in my opinion are too much work, however, the Backpack organizer looked to be a little easier to create to-do list, with reminders, etc.

Zamzar is an essential tool tool at work and at home! It allows you to save a document into another format, this can be really important for presentations and papers that you need to work on another computer.

Thing #16 had a lot of GREAT tools worth exploring!

Thing #15

Wiki's - This tool is my favorite for classroom use. I have my own wikispace - https://tlcox.wikispaces.com that I have used in the classroom to introduce Photo Story - a free Microsoft download. I was able to add links, directions, and helpful tips for teachers and students to access at any time all they needed was the link. Once teachers see the benefits of this tool and the fact that it is free, they can't wait to start using it and having their students use it. I see some wiki training at the campus level in the near future!

Thing #14

Mindmapping and Flowcharts are purposeful not only in math and writing but in every content area imaginable! I chose Bubbl.us for and MindMeister to see how these two mind mapping programs differed. They both were easy and could really be used for all age groups. I created samples below:

Flowchart allowed me to create a sequential chart - a process from beginning to end.

Thing #13

The thing I liked most about ZOHO is the fact that I can email my document to a friend or my students could email it to me or to each other for editing and for ideas. It is truly a working document. So often times teachers assign group work to be done outside of class and the students do not have the means to meet, transportation, parent's schedules, etc...but with ZOHO and an email address the possibilities are endless!

(I created a sample typed in ZOHO using links, and charts).

The embedded codedid not work I got an error message every time. I did figure out how to email, share, and publish, my logins just didn't work. With so many different requirements for logins on the 23 Things, I have had to change the login and passwords so much it is hard to keep up with them all.

Thing #12

I am excited to share my Google homepage and my calendar. In our department we have shared several calendars and the Google calendar is what I would recommend to all high school departments due to its easy set up and access. I have used the Picasa album and have viewed several of my co-workers photo albums. The possible educational uses for all educators is not only possible, but do-able. I plan to share this with the teachers and hope to help them establish their Google accounts and the many other Google applications it has to offer!

http://www.google.com/reader/shared/05578727729314772446?hl=en check out my feeds...

Thing #11

Topix.net, Syndic8.com, and Technorati were great search tools noted that helped me to locate some RSS feeds. I added several new feed to my Bloglines, the easiest way to find a feed of interest was to to just click in the topics of interest. I liked the Topix.net the most because the topics were provided in an easy to read format. i found some great feeds on technology use in the classroom and fun feeds on topics of interest such as "learning how to saddle a horse and how to feed a horse. By the way there are some really unusual topics of interest, I guess there is something for everyone.

Thing #10

I subscribe to Bloglines and selected several topics of interest, I like the fact that the reader is selecting for me specific topics of interest and narrowing down my search! What a great tool for a classroom teacher or student to find specific up to the minute info for a specific topic or lesson! I will be showing teachers this next year the benefits of the RSS feed and the time saving benefits! When students can use the public Bloglines or the Google Reader to help to inform each other the sites that they have subscribed to you will then see the benefits of true student collaboration and integration of technology in the classroom.

Thing #9

Way too much fun!!! I loved this Comic strip image generator, I picked the cartoon from a large selection, I could have added my own image to create this comic but I really liked this guy! I then added the text and here you go! The students could really create some fun, purposeful, and educational comic's. The possibilities are endless. I loved this tool, SO easy and FUN!

This was fun using ImageChef, lots of frames to upload pictures to and you can add text. Really easy, fun, and adaptable for classroom use. No more poster projects! Save trees and computer ink! These projects can be sent to a class blog or sent as an email attachment, easy for the teacher to grade!

Thing #8

How about this? I used the Warholizer Flickr mashup. These mashup's and tools can be a fun project idea or a great way to begin a new unit of instruction. I love the idea of photo sharing and the fact that student's can get appropriate photo's that are public domain and free without copyright infringements. I had some difficulty with trying to make some of the mashup's work and it took a lot of time for the projects that I did create to load and compose (I could fold a load of laundry - great part of taking an online course right!) I wonder how this would really work in a classroom of 30? I do believe it would be worth a try! I also liked the fact that this is a free tool and you could print this off onto canvas paper. I saw programs costing you anywhere from $65 - 80.00 per print.

Thing #7

Flickr is an ideal tool for any teacher, student, and classroom. Finding free public domain photos to use in presentations is sometimes difficult. I like that fact that photos can be uploaded to the desktop, sent in an email to Flickr and it appears there in seconds and friends and family can be directed there. I hope that our district will help all employees see that this is a better way to send pictures and videos to others. So many employees send photo albums to their friends and co-workers through our district email and never realize that it slows the system down.

I also found it interesting that you can assign tags to your photos that essentially if you have a photo out there, it can be found. With the "misd23things", mary and Debbie could assign 75 tags to this one image, they are good at what they do but I think that even this might be a challenge?

The "23 Thingster group" looks a little questionable, I wonder where that image came from.

Ok, so I came across something called moo cards - my curiousity kicked in and I had to explore exactly what these were. If you really want to know ask me and I will tell you.

I uploaded two pictures onto my blog, a picture of my sweet Lexy and Cricket, see if you can tell who is who.

Thing #6

The choices were many, I searchedfoods, fun stuff, and widgets (I still am uncertain as to what a widget is, I am sure that will be covered soon in one of these "things" :) The fun stuff included Hairmixer.com - you could import your picture and mix it with a celebrity's hairstyle, the options were many! After you found the exact hairdo you could email it to friends, make a T shirt with the photo and many other products. This would be a fun project to do with your friends or do to your friends! The second site I went to was Onesentence.org - this site invites you to tell in one sentence and only one sentence a true story. This would be a great project to have the students be able to chose their words carefully and chose descriptive words in order to tell their own life event. Reading some of the ones that had been posted was hilarious. I kept going, the next site I found was Comiqs.com, I am teaching a class in the fall using a variety of comic strip sites. I hope that this class will show teachers the fun application that this tool can provide for the students in order to create their own digitial novel, (comic strip). This site was fun because you actually could import your own photos and create the storyboard. Too fun. Now I see why these sites received awards.

Thing #5 - What does School 2.0 mean to me.

School 2.0 is an exciting and innovative approach to teaching students in the 21st century. Students no longer have the need or desire to memorize meaningless facts and data when all they have to do is merely type in a word or two into Google or Wikipedia and get the info that they need. Unfortunately, so many teachers use what they are most comfortable with and are ok with telling their students that they computer illiterate. In my world we don't accept students responses to "I can't do this" or "This is too hard" we expect them to take the concepts that are being taught, learn and apply them and have mastery of these concepts on a test. So how do you get teachers to step out of their comfort zone and their little box and go forth and learn new things. I thought that by other teachers sharing and showing the great benefits of using School 2.0 tools that other teachers might be driven to want to learn, not so, many responded, "I just don't have the time to learn all that new stuff". So when training is provided and the teachers are given some time you have a small group of teachers that will embrace the training and try out these new tools and when things don't work sucessfully the very first time in the classroom, they don't want to try again. The answer? Many districts across the nation have spent millions of dollars in equipment, technology facilitators and trainers, staff development, incentives and yet bottom line it is the educator that must WANT to make the change and must WANT to do what is best for the students, they must WANT to be proactive and progressive. If each campus administrator expected the staff to move towards becoming a 2.0 School and set up a plan of action with serious expectations and accountability then, and only then, would the classroom change and become a more content producing, student centered classroom with real world application and a desire for a lifetime of learning. As educators we have a double standard, we are not willing to learn and stretch our ownselves, yet that is what we expect of our students.
Walk through any classroom and ask yourself, "How are we meeting the needs of our students to be interested and to embrace what they are learning, to be expressive and to provide opportunities for contribution, and how are we meeting the needs of these students to be ready for the workplace? With over 500 new tools to be utilized in the classroom it should never be a question of do I want to use these new tools, but rather what new tools should I teach today!
New Literacies - Is it Essential or Enrichment, I invite you to respond.

Thing #4 In Progress

After reading the details of the how and why's of commenting I see that not only does it help to keep the blogging format alive and interesting but that you can comment on someones ideas, relate, and respond to them on a professional and/or personal level. Several of the sites gave great suggestions for commenting, and a classroom teacher using a blog would want to have the students read the reasoning behind whether or not to use your real name or an alias - "Commenting using an alias vs, using your real name" - Blogging Basics 101 and "The 10 Commandments of blog commentary" - Brown's Thought blog. Both of these sites would help to establish the expectations and the protocol of using the classroom blog. I have benefitted from the info and comments from several educational blogs as well as some personal interest blogs. A great resource and tool for personal use as well as for practical use in the classroom!

Blogs to check out -
Loving Summer - by the way great blog name!
Doran's Documents - this blogger is almost finished with her 23 things and her blog site is awesome!
Learning Something New - having fun learning these new tools and gives great application ideas!
Coach D -classroom teacher and coach that can see the benefits and the implementation of the Web 2.0 tools in the classroom, for the whole scheduling aspect of all atheletic events on their campus and the many personal uses to make life a litle simplier, that is what tools should do!
Teachartiscool - she is coming up with ideas already for the many uses and products that her students can create using these great online tools.

Thing #3

How fun this would be for students to be able to communicate and share thoughts, ideas, projects and collaborate. So often teachers assign group work but the students are unable to get together outside of class, this way they could share anything for their project so much easier. I have seen blogs used in the classroom where the students and parents had access to due dates, assignment details, links to websites, and so much more. A great tool for the classroom!

Thing #2

Creating the blog did take some time, I am still trying to figure out how to export the avatar, I am going to come back to this in the morning. I like the avatar that I selected, she has some of my features and is showing off her new horse, Cricket, against the setting sun. The image is very much like me and my personality. I chose Cricket's Corner for my blog name because I wanted something unique and I didn't really want to put out all of my info on the web. I think some level of privacy is good.

Thing #1

Begin with the end in mind... only 21 more things to do :)

Of the 7 1/2 habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners I find that play is the easiest for me, I truly want to like what I do and do what I like! I am looking forward to this experience and know that there are so many new tools on the web to help me in my day to day world of work! I have heard several people say what a challenge this course is going to be and yet so far everything that they have done they have enjoyed. The hardest habit that I need to embrace is to have confidence in what I am doing and be willing to push the buttons without fear that I can break something. With technology you can either read the manual or just set out to explore and discover. That is what I am looking forward to the most, opportunities for growth and new tools and skills. Setting up the blog wasn't difficult, the hardest thing was thinking up what to write about myself and coming up with a blog name. So far so good!