Anderson’s Web 2.0 Blog

I have LOVED every “THING” that we have completed in this course.  There is SO MUCH out there.  As we continue our journey and incorporate these Web 2.0 tools into our lives, I feel the most important thing that we need to stress not only to ourselves but to our teachers—pick one or two things to do.  You and your students will be on OVERLOAD if you try to do all of these things.  I am impressed with myself in completing the 23 Things.  MOST OF ALL……….I can’t believe that I am mastering scanning the Google Reader.  I am usually the type that reads every word of an email/article/etc. over and over.  Honestly, sometimes I print it off and highlight key things…….SCARY!!!  I have learned so much during this course, and I can’t wait to enjoy 2 weeks off and then back to work to incorporate some of these tools into my trainings.   

OK—so I have LOVED all the tools so far and could think of multiple ways to implement them into the elementary schools that I serve as an ITS, but this one (Social Networking……….Ning)………..I am not sure if we are ready for that…….  I do socially network personally, but I am not ready to delve into this with our students or teachers—so you may think that I am crazy—just can’t help it.  The Internet can be a VERY scary place especially for younger students.  I realize that they are getting out on the net at a younger and younger age, but that only means that we as educators need to begin our “teaching of the Internet” at an earlier age in order to get them prepared.   I can see using social networking on a professional level as far as communicating with peers and other educators, but not in a classroom setting with elementary students.   

OK—so I bet that EVERYONE subscribes to Stephen Rahn’s blog, but I want to share something from there in this post.  From his latest post about Lake Blue Ridge (which is a GREAT place to go) to all his wonderful “links”, he always puts GREAT stuff out to share.  I want to share the following link to his post that includes the 50 Most Beautiful Icon Sets Created in 2008—AMAZING!!!!  You should all take a look—WOW!!!!! JJ  Link to post:  http://www.stephenrahn.com/blog/archives/2688  Link to 50 Most Beautiful Icons Sets Created in 2008: http://www.noupe.com/icons/50-most-beautiful-icon-sets-created-in-2008.html  I am getting in the GROOVE of the Google Reader and plan to continue READING……….. JJ 

LOVE IT!!!  I really enjoyed the time that I spent on my Pageflakes page.  It would be a GREAT tool to use as an ITS to post “cool” Web 2.0 tools and applications for teachers who do not have the time to check these things out individually……..not that I have lots of time, but it would make it easier for them.  I could also use this to post my training calendar as well as other “flakes” that would help out in integrating a professional development page for technology.  Teachers (I think more upper elementary, middle, and high) could use these types of pages to create a page on a topic or unit that they are teaching………LOVE that idea!!!  A one place shopping store……..  We use SharePoint in our County that does have similar features, but we do not have all the “flakes”………JJ 

Google Documents—how GREAT!!! JJ  I really enjoyed spending time on this application, and it was so user friendly to use.  I will admit that I have spent quite a while checking out the word processing and spreadsheet features.  It can be very addicting!!!  I was amazed at how well both my Word Document uploaded to Google Docs and vice versa when I downloaded a document from Google as a Word Document.  I REALLY liked the form that I filled out in the Stretch activity and the easy way that it was created from the spreadsheet………….  JJ  My ideas of using this application include.  1.  Teachers who do not have Office on their home computers are ALWAYS working on something at home and asking about alternatives………this would be a GREAT one to use.  Even if they used the Google Docs at home and transferred it to Word at school……..does Bill Gates know they can do this??  2.  Using the survey form would be an excellent tool for me as an Instructional Technology Specialist to get information from my teachers as well as a GREAT tool for teachers to use as well for surveys, tests, etc.  3.  Using the word processing tool with their class to help with a group project when multiple people need access to a document.  They can use the SHARE feature.  This may also be the introduction to the concept of the wiki.  Overall…………..I LOVE this application.  I did not “share a document” with the world, but I have noted that this is possible in case that need arises.   

You were so right about the time getting away from you……..you can spend DAYS on these sites (YouTube and TeacherTube) just exploring all the videos.  I think I spent about 3 hours just surfing around and checking out some of the videos.  I would start with one and then check out other similar ones or look at other videos by the same “author”, etc.  I checked out many from teachers that we creating these videos for various lessons, directions, etc.  Also, there were many student videos that I really enjoyed watching……….they were SO PROUD to be sending their knowledge out to the world.  I think that video sharing via these sites is an excellent way to send out directions, lessons, examples, to the classrooms at your schools as well as others.  I really think we would benefit from doing more of this and posting out there for our teachers on various “topics”.  We do have some floating around on our Intranet site and many teachers always tell me how GREAT they are.  JJ  Check out this video………….ever dealt with a teacher like this……….. JJ 

Had a GREAT TIME with this………..listen carefully at the beginning of my podcast……my 14 month old begins with his VERY 1^st PODCAST!!! JJ

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 I love podcasting in Education…………I think that more and more teachers are catching on to the craze and getting their students involved in creating student and class podcasts as well as utilizing podcasts for themselves as professional development.  During my preview of podcasts I listened to a variety of segments including technology tips and chat, teachers teaching teachers, students giving class news, and student projects.  I LOVED them all!!! JJ  I thought many of them were of value.  I did find some that I did not enjoy………but who knows………it could be their first one.  I think that teachers (as they are educated and comfortable with the technology) will begin to utilize podcasts more and more.  I plan on sharing some of the ones that I subscribed to next semester during my sessions.  Teachers are always asking me about new and exciting sites and tricks for their classrooms, and I have found several sources to share with them.  I think one of my favorites is The Tech Teachers (Ray and Hollye).  I have an IPod and I LOVE listening to podcasts in the car…….I have to drive to work and back……….so I try to utilize that time to stay up to date with my favorite podcasts.  I have a very limited use of podcasting, but I hope to get more on board as well.     

How exciting………I am an avid reader.  I love to read everything when time permits of course.  I have “stacks” of books waiting for spare time.  JJ  I can see how so many people are members of the Library Thing and catalog their books there…..it is an excellent resource with any avenues of exploration.  I can see uses for it not only personally but professionally as well.  As a classroom teacher, I had LOTS of books for my students to read.  It would be an excellent tool to have your classroom collection cataloged in.  Also, students could use the Library Thing to search your collection as well as use the “suggester” to find other books of interest.  To be perfectly honest, I did not find the “unsuggester” useful…….amusing maybe.  I will definitely come back and register at this site after the course.   

Well……after exploring and getting to know Delicious more……it can definitely help me with time management.  I immediately started adding my most “visited” sites including all my sites for various webmails, the links that I need for this course, as well as all those sites that I enter “codes” in to get “rewards”.  I always think I am set either on my laptop or at home with my favorites and then I realize that the one that I am on at that time does not have the site needed in Favorites…….so off to Google I go……  I learned several things that I REALLY liked such as arranging the bookmarks alphabetically, adding a subscription, adding Jerrie to my network, and creating a Tag Bundle to get this class as one.  I did not import my Favorites……..because I really need to clean them up a bit before I import them all.  JJ  A GREAT professional practice for Delicious would be to have the teachers at my schools create an account and add all the resources we need for each training or class to the site as I introduce them.  This way……..they will only have one place to go for all the “goodies”.   Here is a link to my “stuff”.  http://delicious.com/tammie.anderson