WOW!!!!
I can't believe how much I have learned while going through these "Things". Some of them are much more applicable for my uses than others, but very interesting. Let me take a look back at some of the highlights in this journey.
Blogging...
I never thought that I would be interested in blogging. I have never been a fan of writing, or anyone to keep a journal, but I have seen how useful this can be as a way to process and respond to information. I could definitely see having my science students us a blog to record their reflections on the material, and as a way to complete some of their assignments. I could also see using a blog to keep a reflection on my own teaching. I could write about what I think I am doing well, and where I have gone wrong. I think that blogs can be helpful even if no one else reads them (although the comments, and feedback would be helpful).
Photos and Images...
I had so much fun finding, and playing with the images from Flikr. The possibilities are endless. Students can find and post pictures related to their subject area. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I would love to have my geometry students, when studying the quadrilaterals, go out and find "real world" examples of each type and post them on Flikr.
Online Video...
At first I thought this would be wonderful to use in the classroom if only I could access YouTube at school. Then we learned how to save the videos and embed them into our blogs, websites, and wikis. There now are so many math and science videos that I can go find and show them to my students. I could see my students making their own video presentations as an alternative to the boring old typed research papers.
Social Bookmarking...
This is probably the "Thing" that I will use the most. What a wonderful tool that is accessible from any computer. I can't wait to get back on my computer at school so that I can upload all of my bookmarks. This also provides an easy way to share bookmarks with your colleagues and friends.
Podcasting...
I really liked looking for, and subscribing to, various podcasts. I am always looking for something to listen to on my 45 minute drive to work. Now I can download some podcasts onto my mp3 player and listen to anything from educational topics to crafting discussions. I know I will be finding some podcasts to have my students listen to too.
Final thoughts...
I have learned so much about how the web has grown. I'm sure my husband is sick of me telling him all about every new "Thing" I have learned about. I would like to continue to explore Web 2.0 by creating a class like this one for my computer lit students. These topics may be more useful (although I'm sure they already know much of this stuff) to the students of the future than spending at least two weeks each on programs like excel or access. Just give them the nuts and bolts of the basic programs they will use, and then advance to how they can make a bigger impact on the world around them.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thing 22
Making my own Wiki...
As I was afraid of, I didn't like creating, or using WikiSpaces. I did however follow directions, and mine can be found here.
Here is what I didn't like about this experience. Let me start off by saying that I chose to start a website for my algebra class. I included a math comic, and my school Google Calendar (I did like that it could be incorporated). I found that I could not get the layout that I wanted without messing with tables, and I thought it was more difficult to set the font size and color than it should have been.
I'm not sure how or what I would have students post to the site. Possibly they could ask questions, but couldn't a social networking sit work just as well as that? Couldn't I just have shared documents? Maybe my thinking is too narrow on this topic, or I don't know how to serve my student population by using a wiki.
As I was afraid of, I didn't like creating, or using WikiSpaces. I did however follow directions, and mine can be found here.
Here is what I didn't like about this experience. Let me start off by saying that I chose to start a website for my algebra class. I included a math comic, and my school Google Calendar (I did like that it could be incorporated). I found that I could not get the layout that I wanted without messing with tables, and I thought it was more difficult to set the font size and color than it should have been.
I'm not sure how or what I would have students post to the site. Possibly they could ask questions, but couldn't a social networking sit work just as well as that? Couldn't I just have shared documents? Maybe my thinking is too narrow on this topic, or I don't know how to serve my student population by using a wiki.
Thing 21
Wikis...
I'll start off by saying that I'm not that all excited about wikis. I can see where they might be useful for some of the examples given, but for the things that I found interesting in the few examples, I think I can do it another way using one of the "Things" we already talked about .
I liked the Examples of Educational Wikis wiki, but couldn't the same idea be accomplished using Delicious and bookmarking or tagging the wiki sites? Also, couldn't the example of the camping list have been solved using a Google Document that was shared with the group of friends?
I will be fare, and take a moment to look again for a few examples of math classes and see what they have done. (I'll be right back...)
I was looking through the educational wiki site, and it is a wonderful long list of wikis, but you can't search them (at least I couldn't get it to work). Let me try searching just on Google...
Ok, based on what I found, the math wikis I found looked like a webpage that the instructor created. Couldn't I just make a website at Google Sites to do the same thing, enbedding the Google Docs into it for collaboration?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't see wikis, as of now, as something that would enhance my teaching or interaction with my colleagues. I'm not sure how it would be better than a website for my high school algebra class, and my Alt Ed kids wouldn't use it either.
Looking ahead, I will go on to try to make a wiki, and maybe my thoughts will change. Here is hoping so...
I'll start off by saying that I'm not that all excited about wikis. I can see where they might be useful for some of the examples given, but for the things that I found interesting in the few examples, I think I can do it another way using one of the "Things" we already talked about .
I liked the Examples of Educational Wikis wiki, but couldn't the same idea be accomplished using Delicious and bookmarking or tagging the wiki sites? Also, couldn't the example of the camping list have been solved using a Google Document that was shared with the group of friends?
I will be fare, and take a moment to look again for a few examples of math classes and see what they have done. (I'll be right back...)
I was looking through the educational wiki site, and it is a wonderful long list of wikis, but you can't search them (at least I couldn't get it to work). Let me try searching just on Google...
Ok, based on what I found, the math wikis I found looked like a webpage that the instructor created. Couldn't I just make a website at Google Sites to do the same thing, enbedding the Google Docs into it for collaboration?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't see wikis, as of now, as something that would enhance my teaching or interaction with my colleagues. I'm not sure how it would be better than a website for my high school algebra class, and my Alt Ed kids wouldn't use it either.
Looking ahead, I will go on to try to make a wiki, and maybe my thoughts will change. Here is hoping so...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thing 20
Subscribing to podcasts...
Of the two sites to search for podcasts, I definitely preferred The Education Podcast Network. I found Podcast Ally to be complicated. What I liked about EPN was the list of categories on the side of the page and when you clicked on one, such as mathematics, the podcasts related to math were listed right there. Very user friendly.
To complete this "Thing" I only used iTunes to subscribe to a few podcasts. When I do further searching I might try using Bloglines because I don't have iTunes on all of my computers. Also, since I've never used iTunes before, do you have an iTunes account that you log into, because I didn't need one or see one on my husband's laptop. If I subscribe to something at home will I see it at school? That is why I am thinking that I might try using Bloglines instead.
A couple of podcasts that I subscribed to were "This American Life" and "The Math Factor". Next, I need to learn how to load them on my mp3 player so that I can listen to them on the way to school, or when I'm out for a walk.
Of the two sites to search for podcasts, I definitely preferred The Education Podcast Network. I found Podcast Ally to be complicated. What I liked about EPN was the list of categories on the side of the page and when you clicked on one, such as mathematics, the podcasts related to math were listed right there. Very user friendly.
To complete this "Thing" I only used iTunes to subscribe to a few podcasts. When I do further searching I might try using Bloglines because I don't have iTunes on all of my computers. Also, since I've never used iTunes before, do you have an iTunes account that you log into, because I didn't need one or see one on my husband's laptop. If I subscribe to something at home will I see it at school? That is why I am thinking that I might try using Bloglines instead.
A couple of podcasts that I subscribed to were "This American Life" and "The Math Factor". Next, I need to learn how to load them on my mp3 player so that I can listen to them on the way to school, or when I'm out for a walk.
Thing 19
Podcasts...
I really like podcasts. I have looked at a few of these before (my favorite being CraftSanity), but I have not thought about it recently.
While I was searching through some of the podcasts, it was nice to have one playing in the background while I was looking for others. I love to listen to audio books while I am working on the computer, and this would be just as easy.
The two that I found I would like to follow are mathgrad.com and the state superintendent's podcast. I think that the math site offers interesting "shows" on various math topics. I found the math behind sudoku particularly interesting. I would also like to follow what is going on with the state of our schools here in Michigan.
One of the assignments that I have assigned in the past for my environmental science students is to have them find science in the news. Having students use podcasts to find examples of science in the "real world" would give more variety and could become more interesting and relevant to themselves. I found the WWF site to be a good example.
Now, I'm off to find some podcasts to subscribe too.
I really like podcasts. I have looked at a few of these before (my favorite being CraftSanity), but I have not thought about it recently.
While I was searching through some of the podcasts, it was nice to have one playing in the background while I was looking for others. I love to listen to audio books while I am working on the computer, and this would be just as easy.
The two that I found I would like to follow are mathgrad.com and the state superintendent's podcast. I think that the math site offers interesting "shows" on various math topics. I found the math behind sudoku particularly interesting. I would also like to follow what is going on with the state of our schools here in Michigan.
One of the assignments that I have assigned in the past for my environmental science students is to have them find science in the news. Having students use podcasts to find examples of science in the "real world" would give more variety and could become more interesting and relevant to themselves. I found the WWF site to be a good example.
Now, I'm off to find some podcasts to subscribe too.
Thing 18
Slideshare
I found this site interesting, but difficult to post from. I found a great slide show to share right off but am having a heck of a time trying to get the code to embed into it...
Ok, I finally got something posted in my blog. I guess it has it's own spot somewhere around this blog. Honestly, more pain than I think it was worth. Maybe I will just need to play with it more.
Am I understanding this correctly? This is not a site to create presentations, but a place to post them for the world to see and use? While I think it will be useful to see what others have done, and I know how to download them (they send you an e-mail with the file on it), I may see what is out there to use. I really need a site that I can create new presentations since I don't have PowerPoint at home. I'm glad then we were introduced to Zoho Show in the last "Thing".
I think this would be useful for students who would be creating presentations for projects and when they are finished they could post them here. Other students could then go and make comments on them too. I'm not so sure it would be helpful for my students to use though. They don't make many presentations for my class.
I did find the "Shift Happens" slide show very interesting, and I think I would like to show it to my students for a great topic of discussion some day.
I found this site interesting, but difficult to post from. I found a great slide show to share right off but am having a heck of a time trying to get the code to embed into it...
Ok, I finally got something posted in my blog. I guess it has it's own spot somewhere around this blog. Honestly, more pain than I think it was worth. Maybe I will just need to play with it more.
Am I understanding this correctly? This is not a site to create presentations, but a place to post them for the world to see and use? While I think it will be useful to see what others have done, and I know how to download them (they send you an e-mail with the file on it), I may see what is out there to use. I really need a site that I can create new presentations since I don't have PowerPoint at home. I'm glad then we were introduced to Zoho Show in the last "Thing".
I think this would be useful for students who would be creating presentations for projects and when they are finished they could post them here. Other students could then go and make comments on them too. I'm not so sure it would be helpful for my students to use though. They don't make many presentations for my class.
I did find the "Shift Happens" slide show very interesting, and I think I would like to show it to my students for a great topic of discussion some day.
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