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.