WEEK 5, Thing #11

This week I played with some of the 2.0 tools available on line these days. I checked out Docstoc but I didn't like that I had to register to download information. It is really just a collection of document templates for all kinds of subjects - legal documents, educational documents, etc. I also didn't like that it's about money - people get paid to put documents on the site. I would rather just share stuff and not worry about who is getting paid.

I also checked out backpackit.com. It is an organizational/storage site but it isn't free so I didn't get very far. I wasn't interested in the 30 day free trial. Wufoo works the same way. It is a site that can be used to create and manage forms but it also costs money to use.

Pageflakes was interesting. It has a lot of different applications but I looked at the on-line organizer. It was a lot like an iGoogle page with gadgets, calanders, news feeds, etc. I already use iGoogle but if I didn't I would like Pageflakes.

I read a little about Twitter but I am really not that interested in what is going on with everyone every minute. I could see that it might be helpful if I was using it to post info for students because I could use my cellphone to do it. I suppose that if I wanted to get info to students en-mass I could use Twitter to reach all of them at one time. I downloaded an article about using cell phones for educaitonal purposes but I haven't read it yet. Twitter might be part of that type of thing.

Lulu was interesting. It is a book site and I searched for information on Christian fiction available as ebooks. It took a lot of time to find what I was looking for but it was helpful.

I read an article about Deli.cio.us and want to learn more about it but it is on the list as one of the later "things" I will be doing so I am going to wait.

I haven't really found anything that I think it really cool. I am a little disappointed too because the list I looked at showed the Award Winning 2.0 Tools. Maybe it is just because I am not really that interested in the social scene. I don't care what people are doing right now. I do want to connect and collaborate with other teachers but even that has been hard to do through all this. I did join the 2.0 Classroom page - which is a Ning network. I am hoping it will lead to some collaborative discussions in the future.

WEEK 5, Thing #10

This week I messed around with image generators. I made a comic using Comic Strip Generator but I didn't really like the way it worked or the way the comic came out in the end. The fonts were hard to use and making the words fit in the bubbles was hard. The final product looks fuzzy and messy. I wouldn't use that application again.

I used Flicker toys when I checked out Flicker and I thought it was easy to use. I liked being able to make posters and magazine covers. I think I will use this application for my classes.

Image Chef was easier to use and really easy to post to this blog. There were some fun things to do. I made a license plate and the visual poetry and flower text were interesting. I think they could be fun for introducing topics during a unit.

My daughter really likes the Picnik application for image generating. Her one negative comment is that it always takes so long. That's my opinion too. All of these applications are fun and creative but they take a lot of time and really aren't necessary. These kinds of things could add some flavor to a classroom but the trade off it that you have to give up some valuable time to make it happen.

WEEK 4, Thing #9

Yikes! There really is a lot of information out there. I found it hard to decide what might be important and what might be a waste of my time. The recommended search engines were somewhat helpful but I often found that my key words didn't produce many possible matches. It was a little time consuming too because many of the blogs/feeds don't have names that really tell what they are about. You have to guess or look at all of them to see if they might be helpful. So, I found some stuff and I subscribed to a number of educational feeds this week. It is nice that the info come s to me on the Reader page and I don't have to bookmark or find the sites again in the history. Now I have a Google reader page full of information I need to process.

One of the articles I read talked about a book called The Paradox of Choice. The writer of the article paraphrased the author of the book and said that "the more choices we have, the less likely and able we are to make a decision." She went on to consider taht maybe at her school they were offering too many choices. This RSS feed thing may create a similar situation. Too much to digest - too much to process. I hope that as I look at some of the feeds I have subscribed to that I will weed out the ones that really aren't helpful and find a few "Friends" that I can count on to give me good advice and encouragement.

WEEK 4, Thing #8

I opened a Google Reader account this week and spent a couple of hours (good thing it's vacation!) cruising around the internet to find sites to subscribe to. I found some cool stuff and using Google reader was really easy. I have had an IGoogle page as my homepage for a long time and have used the "Add to Google page" tags for some of my favorite sites. Reader was just as easy. It would be nice to be able to get a tab for reader on my IGoogle page but I figured out that when I am on my IGoogle page I can just go to MyAccount and then select reader to see my list of subscriptions. It takes a few clicks but not a big deal.

One of the things that I really like about this blog stuff, and now using RSS, is the possibility to connect with other like minded teachers. I have wanted to find some groups or blogs to follow that would give me input on project ideas, tech usuage and overall classroom set up and management. It has been fun to take the time to search for those things this week and I am excited about the groups and sites that I found. I think this particular application is most beneficial for professional development and continuing education. I also found ways to connect my classroom with other classrooms for collaborative projects or research.

The ultimate coolest thing I found this week though! How to make an interactive whiteboard with a Wiimote! Yeah - a Wii remote! It is really cool and really easy and really cheep compared to buying the real thing! I can't wait to try it!

WEEK 3, Thing #7

Technology. The ability to communicate so easily with people all over the world is the thing I like best about technology these days. I love that I can live in Indonesia and still talk to my mom and dad in Indiana (and even see their faces) everyday. I also love that it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. Talking to friends and family is only part of it though. I like that even though the newspaper from Winchester, IN, doesn't come to my door everyday, I can go online and read it. I can also read papers from other towns, check the weather anywhere in the world and keep up with the sports scores. I can do all this from a little town in Indonesia because of technology.