Week 9 Thing 23 Program Summarization

I have completed the 23 things. There is no way I wanted to be thinking about this during the summer. My goal was to complete this program before the end of the year. So, after many late nights (and many more later nights) I have arrived at the finish line.

The program was interesting. It exposed me to many concepts that I would have otherwise been unaware of. At least now when someone speaks of bloglines or RSS feeds I will know what they are talking about.

I definitely found some of the topics more interesting than others. I liked blogging, wikis, you tube, and the online image generators. Some I had no interest in at all. For some topics, I am looking forward to further exploring them and learning how I can use them with students.

To say that each thing can be completed in 20 or 30 minutes is a gross understatement. It took me more time than that just to figure out what I was to do. Then I had to complete the task. Of course, wandering off in various directions with many of the tasks consumed a lot of time. I guess if you are computer savvy, these tasks may only take 20 minutes or so.

The broken links were a distraction. The directions said to go to a particular site but it was no longer available. This was usually no big deal, just a minor glitch.

So now I am finished. Good luck to all of you who are still working.

Week 9 Thing 22 Audio books

Audio books are great for people who travel a lot and may not have time to read a hard copy of a book. I have also talked with people who are listening to audio books while they are walking. They are especially wonderful for those whose have lost the capability to read from a hard copy but still are avid readers. Personally, I like the feel of a book in my hands. Often, I refer back to previous pages to read about a character or a scene and I think it would be difficult to do this with audio books. One slight worry I have is that reading the printed word may decrease with students as more and more books are audio.
One of the things I liked about the e books is the fact that the books automatically expire and you no longer have access to them. You don’t have to worry about returning them to the library yourself. What role will e-books have in the future of school libraries? Will it be more cost effective to use these?

Week 9 Thing 21 Podcasts

I can see the value of podcasts in all types of venues, from classroom instruction to professional training to tutorials to just pure fun. But there is just so much out there. Looking at Podcast.net it seemed pretty easy to use with easy searches. I looked at the top 100 podcasts and enjoyed some, but not others. What was with the Ninja? Did not like that.
I added an RSS feed for a podcast to my bloglines, Share the Earth. This is our Earth PBS KIDS. It’s neat for kids.
I could use podcasts in my classes. Hopefully, this summer, I will get back to this topic to figure out how to create one.

Week 9 Thing 20 You Tube

I first became acquainted with Straight No Chaser last year. They are phenomenal. Of all of their performances I still like the 12 Days of Christmas the most. I didn't know how to embed a video so I found this other video and thought someone may be able to use it. It worked!

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I like You Tube because of it ease in using it and the endless variety of videos you can choose from. I don't like it because of its lack of restriction of its contents; too much garbage.

I did find out that even though You Tube is restricted in school I could view videos on other sites. I wouldn't depend on them to use in lessons, though. I looked up book trailers and found a lot of them that were pretty neat. One of my favorites is " The Recess Queen."

Week 8 Thing 19 Web 2.0 Award List

The selections on this awards list was a lot of fun to look at. The first thing I clicked on was the widgets and the snow globe popped up. You ask the globe any question and it comes up with a generic answer that would fit any question. Stupid, but fun. Then I clicked on I don't know what and up came this radio station. I noticed I could copy them so I tried to do so and it worked. That is why they are in the blog.
I looked at a lot of the items on the list. Some were more interesting than others. I used Picnik to edit pictures for an AEP project. It's easy to use. I looked at the SpanishPod and it looks like something I can use, but I didn't want to get in to it now because of the time factor. There are free lessons so I want to go back to this site. A lot of the sites were interesting.
I liked the way the sites were given first, second, third, and honorable mention status. Not that I would give total credence to these ratings, but it does give me an idea of the quality of the sites.

Week 8 Thing 18 Online Productivity Tools

I explored both Zoho and Google Docs and found both of them interesting and fun to use. I have two primary concerns about online documents, though. The first one is that if the server goes down you are without access to your documents. Because of this I would probably back up my work anyway. The other concern is how secure are the materials online. How easy is it for someone else to access the work. Do I really need to worry about this? I don't know.
I looked at the presentation tools on Google Docs. There is a nice selection of templates to choose from to work on different projects. I began a baby album for my sister's first grandchild. It is easy to use and is fascinating how all of the elements on the pages can be moved around or deleted if you do not want them. I copied pictures of the baby from my sister's baby blog, added text, then arranged them on the pages. I then added my sister as a collaborator, then e-mailed the album to her. Now she can add add any pictures and can continue to create the online album. Neat! Can't wait to explore further when I have more time.